Hero of New Gotham
by I Hate Snatch Steal
Summary: New Gotham needs a super hero, and gets it in the form of a shape shifting teen who can take the form of his favorite Sonic characters. Planned to be a full fledged crossover with various DC comics universe characters in later chapters. [Thus its hard to know where to put this]
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Janus' gift

Somewhere in some location known only to him, Janus reflected on recent events. Being a god of change can be hard to do if the powers that be keep interfering in your plans. However they wouldn't be bothersome this time. Janis had recently defeated them in a contest of cunning and skill with the wager that if they lost, Janis could empower a human without any interference. The question was which human. In the city of New Gotham, Janus would find the answer.

Josh Stein [no relation to Josh Stein in my other stories] was standing in a strange location. The scenery was indistinct but the figure in front of him was even harder to see. "I am giving you a powerful gift," It said, its voice sounding as if it was directly in his head. "Your fictional favorites can now be you. Think and you will become." Josh was confused but he nodded anyway. Then he heard a loud beeping noise.

_Author's note: This is not a Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover beyond the above, I just needed something to get it started.  
_

Josh woke with a start when his alarm went off. He quickly got ready for school. This would be only his second week at New Gotham High. Josh's parents had recently moved to New Gotham since the cost of living was cheaper than where they lived before. Josh's parents were both hardworking money smart people, but sadly Josh's grandfather had passed away with a large amount of unpaid gambling debt so money was still an issue until they paid it off. Josh said good bye to his mother and stated walking to school. He was careful to stay alert since some parts of New Gotham had a relatively high crime rate. It was partly because New Gotham was close to Gotham city thus criminals that Batman had scared away found new residence there.

As Josh walked between classrooms at school, he saw a poster for the New Gotham high Halloween Party & Costume Contest. Since Josh knew the event was today he sighed, he wanted to attend, but since he had neither the time nor money for a good costume and didn't know anyone who did he decided not to bother. Josh was interrupted from his thoughts by a rude sounding voice behind him. "Thinking of trying to enter the contest, geek?" the voice said. Josh turned around and came face to face with the captain of the school football team, Bradley Andrews. "Don't bother trying to win the contest" Bradley continued, "I had a costume hand made for this so you won't win, I will". Josh knew Bradley wasn't bluffing. Bradley had very rich parents who apparently spoiled him to no end. That combined with his football skills made him an very arrogant jerk. Josh wished he had some kind of retort, but he couldn't think of one so he just walked away. "Where are you going?" Bradley taunted, "Off to see your imaginary friends? Since you don't have any real ones!"

After school that day, Josh thought bitterly about Bradley's words as he sat in his rickety desk chair in his room. It was true that he didn't have any friends yet. Two weeks wasn't enough time to make them and he'd left his old friends behind when he moved. He decided to look up online in the school newspaper archives who had won the costume contest previously, and what they had dressed up as. Last year's story was titled, "New Football team captain Sweeps contest as Master Chief". Josh read the rest of the story and sighed again, Why couldn't classic characters ever make the top 3? The winners were Bradley as Master Chief of course, some girl from the anime club dressed as something with a spiked mace called Dokuro-chan, and someone dressed as a teacher from some high school related anime. Josh just wished he had a good costume. He contemplated who he'd dress up as given the choice and decided on Tails. He could just picture the party. Walking into the room and taking the contest by storm. Sure the rest of the guests would need an introduction, but he'd gladly give to them.

Josh was just imaging about the look on Bradley's face when he got beat by Tails when he started to feel strange. His body became enveloped in pure white light and he saw the world around him growing. The light faded and he looked at his reflection in his miniature TV set. _Tails looked back at him_. "What just happened?" Josh asked aloud, and then got another shock when he heard Tail's voice coming from his mouth. It was enough of a shock that he fell out of his desk chair and landed on his namesake tails. "Ow", he said quietly, "my tails hurt." Then he realized what he's said and that he could feel his tails like they were a part of his body. "Everything ok up there?" Josh's mother asked from downstairs.

Josh didn't want to answer since he didn't sound like himself. His mother started to walk up the stairs to his room. "What am I going to do?" Josh though, "How do I explain this?" He frantically thought about how he could turn back. There was more white light, and he did. Josh's mother opened the door and Josh came up with a quick excuse: "I was resting but now I'm fine" he said. Josh's mother left and Josh suddenly remembered the dream he had. "Your fictional favorites can now be you. Think and you will become." he muttered to himself. That dream had seemed like it had meant something. He thought of being Tails again, and it happened. After changing back into himself once again, Josh went downstairs and told his mother he was going to the school Halloween party just to see who would win. In his head though, he had bigger plans.

Josh excitedly walked back to school and shape shifted into Tails right before he reached the gymnasium. He pushed the door open and saw the crowd of people, some of which were in costumes and couldn't help but smile, since this was a dream come true. He asked a girl who dressed as Sailor Moon where to sign up for the costume contest and she directed him to a table in the corner. Josh walked up to the table and said "Excuse me, I'd like to sign up for the costume contest." One of the students running the table looked at him funny and said "Its only open to New Gotham High Students, you look a little small for that." Josh quickly came up with an excuse: "I'm a midget underneath this." he said, pretending to sound sheepish. The student running the table still didn't look convinced. Another student walked over and said "Just let him enter Bob, it's clear he put a lot of work into his costume." Bob looked like agreed with that statement. "Your name?" he said. Josh realized that he couldn't give his real name since his human form was too big so he said "Miles Prower" instead. Bob wrote it down and then asked, "What are you dressed as again?". "Tails, from Sonic the Hedgehog" Josh said proudly. "Just wait for the judges to call your name on the intercom for examination." Bob told him. "Yes!" Josh exclaimed and swished his tails in excitement. "Did your tails just move?" Bob asked. Josh replied "Uh, yeah. They're animatronics." and walked away before Bob could question him anymore.

While he was waiting for the judges to call him, Josh noticed a girl talking to someone dressed as Duke Nukem. Upoen closer inspection the 'Duke Nukem' turned out to be Bradley Andrews. His costume did look professionally done like he'd just walked out of a movie set. The girl looked bored. Josh walked over and caught a bit of their conversation. "Not bad competition this year, but I'm still going to win, right Alexia?" Bradley said arrogantly. "Right" Alexia responded, but her tone sounded like she was saying "Shut up about it already" instead. Alexia turned and saw Josh. She walked over to him and said "Cute. What are you dressed up as?" Josh responded "Tails, from Sonic the Hedgehog." Alexia studied what she thought was a costume and said "It looks so real, may I touch it?". Josh nodded. Alexia touched Josh's fur and said "This feel like real fur." "Alexia!" Bradley said, his voice dripping with rudeness, "Your supposed to be admiring MY costume." Alexia had had enough, she turned around to face Bradley, her eyes livid and shouted "I've had more than enough of you. Just because your captain of the football team doesn't give you an excuse to act like a jerk! Your officially dumped and I hope you lose the costume contest!" Bradley's frustration showed on his face but he managed to retort "I'm going to win and when I do I'll publicly humiliate you for doubting me." before he stormed off. Alexia looked like she was about to start petting Josh's fur when the intercom announced "Miles Prower please report to the judges stand for costume examination." Josh said, "That's me." and started to walk off. Alexia gave him a thumbs up and said "Good Luck".

The examination went very well. The judges were surprised at how good Josh's 'costume' was. They particularly liked his 'animatronics'. Josh left the judges stand thinking he'd at least made the top 3. He looked around and spotted Bradley talking to some other athletes when the intercom sounded again. "We will now announce the winners of today's costume contest." All the chatter in the room stopped. "In third place, Usagi Tsukino... uh I mean Serena Avalon, as Sailor Moon! In second place, Bradley Andrews as Duke Nukem!" Bradley looked very angry. "In first place, by a large marigin I might add, is Miles Prower as Tails!" Bradley grabbed one of his teammates by the collar and said "How could I lose to someone I've never heard of! I was supposed to win this contest!" he said far too loudly. The athlete knew better then to respond so Bradley added "I'm going to have a word with those judges." and started to walk off. An older man who seemed to have been listening in said to him "My, how unsporting of our team captain." Bradley looked even angrier, he started to turned around as he said, "I don't care about being sporting. That's for losers who can't win, I spent hundreds on this costume so I should be in first place!" he stopped suddenly when he realized who had spoken to him. Sheepishly he said "Oh, hi Coach..". The Coach, who Josh recognized as also being school the gym teacher looked like was ready to punch Bradley in the face. "Your off the team and after how you treated your girlfriend be glad that's all I'm taking from you" he said sternly. "But my parents paid for.." Bradley started to respond, "Another word and I'll give you detention for a month, now get out of this party!" the coach finished. Josh noticed Alexia sporting a "Take that" kind of smirk, and then she started to scan the crowd. Josh figured what she was doing and decided to leave before he got asked too many questions.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Knuckle Head vs Knuckles

Josh took a while to fall asleep after getting home from the Halloween party: he was too excited to sleep. The next morning he briefly turned into Tails again just to be sure the previous day wasn't some kind of elaborate dream. "That was real" he thought to himself after he turned back, feeling elated despite his short night. Josh got ready and started off to school.

Josh was roughly half way to school when he saw Alexia walking to school ahead of him. He knew not to say anything to her because he'd never been good with girls (The truth was that Josh wasn't an awkward guy, he'd only been around girls who were obsessed with fashion and school athletes before. Naturally he didn't mix well with them) and what could he say about last night anyway. Josh was taken away from his thoughts when he saw a man with his back turned to him put a hand on her shoulder and show her something in his other hand, then he led her into an alley. Josh couldn't see what the shown item was but the look on Alexia's face told him that the man was probably a mugger. Josh knew he had to do something, then it hit him. He took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching and then filled his mind with thoughts of a certain red Echidna.

Alexia was afraid: a mugger was after her and he had her cornered. Since she valued her life more than her money, she got out her wallet and was about to hand it over when a gruff voice said "Hey knucklehead, you want a real fight? Well come and get some!" Alexia and the mugger turned to look and saw a red creature with red sneakers and white gloves that had spikes on them. It looked angry. The mugger reacted first, he turned and said "I'm in the middle of something here so get lost!" The red creature ran up so quickly that Alexia almost didn't see it and punched the surprised mugger in the stomach. He went flying into a nearby dumpster. Alexia was staring open mouthed when the creature asked, "Are you alright?" "Yes" she responded slowly, then added "Thanks, umm". Josh finished for her "Knuckles, Knuckles the Echidna". A school bus went by, reminding Josh that he had to get going. "I'm glad you're ok" he said and ran off.

Later that day, Josh was in the computer lab typing an essay when he heard a female voice exclaim "No way..." in a slow disbelieving tone. The lab was otherwise empty so the words were easy to hear. Josh looked up and saw a computer with a picture of Knuckles displayed on it. Next to it was an article, though the text was too small to read at a distance. Josh walked over and saw that the person who had spoken was Alexia. "So you're a Sonic fan too?" he asked. "I guess you could say that." Alexia responded. Josh guessed what was going on but thought he'd try to be friendly anyway, "From the sound of your voice, it seemed like you just saw proof of a Martian landing or something." he said. "It's nothing" she replied in a tone that clearly said that it wasn't. Josh said, "You can tell me, I promise I won't laugh." his tone was sincere and kind. "Ok," Alexia said, "but I know you won't believe me." She recounted her story of being saved from a mugger by Knuckles. Josh listened calmly. "You think I'm crazy right?" Alexia asked once she finished. Josh thought for a moment, then responded "No, I know your genuine, I can see it in your demeanor. I'm sure metropolis thought the same thing of Superman's first contacts". Alexia's expression improved "You mean you think I met a superhero?" she asked. "Maybe" Josh replied, then he added, "Can you proofread my history essay? I'm really better at math." Alexia smiled and said "Only if you help me with my Algebra."

_Author's note: I can't believe I spelled Knuckles's species wrong all this time... It was an honest mistake that I only just fixed, hope he doesn't knock me into next week for it._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Meanwhile, Back at the Abandoned Gas Station

Static was on patrol. The city had been pretty quiet lately, despite reports of a few escaped meta humans so he was basically flying laps when he heard Gear's voice from his shock box. "I need you at HQ, Flash is here with a message from Batman." Static responded, "I never thought I'd see him again so soon after our battle with Braniac, I'm on my way".

Static quickly reached his headquarters, walked inside and saw Flash waiting with a small projector. He pressed a button on it and a hologram of Batman appeared. "Since the league is busy with other threats right now, we need you two for a mission. The Joker's been spotted in New Gotham and rumor has it some meta humans are there too." Static took all this in and said, "I'd like to but how am I supposed to explain my absence to my parents?" Batman looked like he'd expected the question. "I'll have Wayne Enterprises pull some strings for you." he said, "Just keep an eye on your mailbox."

A few days later an official looking letter came in the mail to Mr. Hawkins, it read:

_Dear Mr. Hawkins,_

_As a Wayne enterprises stockholder you have randomly been selected to win an all expenses paid vacation to New Gotham. You may bring up to 3 guests with you. Car and plane service has been arranged for this Saturday. If you have any questions regarding the validity of this letter, please call Wayne Enterprises._

_Sincerely,_

_Bruce Wayne, CEO_

Mr. Hawkins thought the letter was a hoax and was about to throw it away when Virgil saw it. He reasoned with his Dad that it wouldn't hurt to call Wayne Enterprises just in case they really had won a vacation. After being on hold for half an hour, it was all sorted out. Virgil asked if he could bring Riche as the fourth guest and his Dad agreed. Then Static and Gear arranged for Shebang to watch the city while they were gone.

Virgil, Sharon, Mr. Hawkins, and Riche had packed everything they needed by Friday night, costumes and gear included for Virgil and Richie. Saturday morning a limo pulled up outside their door and a driver who Virgil recognized as Alfred got out and took their care of their luggage.

One private jet flight later they were checking into a five star hotel in New Gotham. It was still daytime so Virgil and Riche told Mr. Hawkins that they'd they wanted to go out and explore. The real reason for going out was they wanted to start their mission. Sharon ended up coming along with them since they couldn't figure out any non suspicious way to talk her out of it.

The three of them were walking down the streets of New Gotham when they heard a bank robbery alarm go off. Virgil and Richie were trying to figure out a way to ditch Sharon when they saw a sports car zoom by, clearly exceeding the speed limit. A second later it was followed by a blue blur going even faster. Virgil and Riche ran to try to keep the car in sight and since they had practical shoes and she didn't, left Sharon behind in the process. The blue blur rammed into the front tire of the car and the car spun out, the left front tire visibly damaged. The car crashed and the blue blur slowed down, and it was revealed to be Sonic the Hegehog! Virgil and Richie saw all this from a short distance away. Sonic looked at the driver of the car, who appeared to be unconscious, and sped off as sirens could be heard nearby. "You saw that right?" Virgil asked. "I did, but I don't believe it" Richie responded.


End file.
